Baron
The Baron is a smart device developed and manufactured by Lone Planet in cooperation with Nintendo, Apple, Atari, and SEGA. Production After the failure of the Lone Planet IC and the success of the Pharo, Lone Planet decided to stop pandering to fanbases of older "indie consoles" (like the Hybrid Fusion) and focus on what makes the modern gaming world so great. In an interview, the CEO of Lone Planet stated that their goal this time was to bridge the gap between smart devices and dedicated handheld gaming consoles. They struck a deal with Apple, a company widely known for such devices as the iPhone and Apple Watch, to accomplish this feat, and Nintendo stepped into the project with hopes to up its arsenal in the mobile market. They got together with Atari and SEGA, both of whom were looking to redeem themselves from past commercial failures, including the SEGA Dreamcast and Atari Jaguar. Lone Planet and its partners agreed to build upon the features of the Pharo and Nintendo Switch and integrate open iOS into the device. Games :Any page that has Category:Baron Games on them will be added here automatically (after a purge or edit). If you would like to have your game(s) on this console, simply put the category on. Features Console By default, the Baron looks like an average smartphone, complete with a power button, two volume buttons, a home button, a USB port, a headphone jack, and two cameras (on at the front, one at the back). Also included are two slots in the middle of each side; you can use these slots to attach Joy-Cons to the base. To compensate for the fact that a Joy-Con covers the side you attach it to, each Joy-Con includes extra buttons at the edge that use the same functions as their base counterparts. Baron Joy-Cons can provide a wide variety of extra ways to play games, use apps, etc. The Baron is bundled with two Gaming Joy-Cons and a Keyboard Joy-Con. The Gaming Joy-Cons are attached to both "short" sides and use control inputs based around current consoles, with two Circle Pads, a directional pad, four action buttons (A/B/X/Y) in the traditional diamond shape, L and R shoulder buttons, ZL and ZR triggers, a Home button, Start/Select buttons, and a Share button. The Keyboard Joy-Con can be attached to either "long" side and resembles a traditional QWERTY keyboard (AZERT in French-speaking regions). Other types of Joy-Cons can be purchased as well, some of which are "Retro Controller Joy-Cons" resembling past consoles, including the SNES, Atari Lynx, and SEGA Genesis. Like the Pharo, the Baron uses wireless HDMI technology to send signals to other devices. In the Baron's case, you can hook it up to a television or personal computer to play games that require extra storage beyond what the base gives you. Interface Unlike the Pharo, which uses Lone Planet's "Front Page" as its home menu, the Baron uses open iOS to help players navigate apps and allow more casual users to adapt to the device more easily. Players can download apps from TwiLite, Lone Planet's subscription-based online store, as well as Apple's own App Store; they can download traditional iOS apps as well as popular console hits. Virtual Console games from Nintendo, Atari, SEGA, and others are also available. Communication Like many smart devices, the Baron grants the user different ways to communicate with other Baron owners. Each unit comes with a SIM card, allowing the user to make calls as they would on an average smartphone; and a pre-installed text messaging app. PictoChat After a long absence, the famous PictoChat app from the Nintendo DS line returns on the Baron, but with a few major changes. This incarnation has no limit as to how many chat rooms are available to enter (unlike DS PictoChat, which requires you to choose from four rooms labeled A, B, C, and D) -- any Baron owner can host a chat room and their friends can join at any time. Also, they do not have to be near each other to join the same chat room, because Baron PictoChat (like most Baron features) is powered by an internet or 4G LTE connection. Another new feature is the ability to use other apps while you are in a PictoChat room, similar to text messaging. Category:Fan Consoles Category:Ninth Generation Consoles Category:Handheld Consoles Category:Mobile Device